So we had our winter concert the week before we left for vacation and it went beautifully. The kids amazing and the back drop looked great thanks to Eileen the art teacher. I got a lot of compliments from both parents and staff members saying they loved it and how great it comes out. This is why I teach because of how much fun the kids had and to show off their hard work. I love to see students succeed and have fun while learning!!!
So my flight home was long and tedious. I flew from Kuwait at 11:00pm and took a detour south to Dammam Saudi Arabia to pick up more passengers. We then took the 6 hour flight to Amsterdam arriving there around 6am. Not too bad so far. I then had a short 1 hour flight from Amsterdam to Heathrow at 7:15am so I boarded the plane and we were all ready to go when the captain came on..... uh oh what does he want we all said. " Ladies and Gentlemen we are just waiting for some more passengers whose flight just landed"...... 40 minutes later..... "Ladies and Gentlemen we are trying to get the door unlocked and it looks like it has been opened and the emergency button on the outside of the door was pushed by a passenger and it looks like we might all have to deplane and go through security and get back on the plane but I will keep you posted."..... 30 minutes later "Ummm I have some bad news we are all going to have to deplane and go through security again and re board I am really sorry about this." So we all deplane go through security again and finally get on our way 2 hours later at 9am. My flight from London to Boston was at 9:30am so I knew that was never going to happen. We land in London at 9:30 because there is an hour time difference and I race to the other terminal to be told nope your plane left and you need to go back to your original terminal to re-book. Fine I go back and they had already re-booked me on the 4:30pm flight to Boston arriving at 6:50pm So I sit around the airport for 6 hours and relax. I finally board for Boston and our flight is going to be an hour late because of tail winds. So I arrive at 8pm go through customs and go to get one checked piece of luggage and uh oh it's not there. So I do the claim and finally at 9:30pm I take the hour drive to Hooksett arriving to surprise my parents at 10:30 at night. Yes they were surprised and so glad that I was home and were so happy to see me. As you can imagine I was exhausted and jet lagged so I crashed. Oh and I received my luggage 4 days later.... :-(
The rest of vacation was a whirlwind. My mom rushed out to buy me Christmas presents since I had none and I spent vacation trying to squeeze all my friends and family into the 10 days I was home. I honestly think the only meal I ate at home was Christmas dinner with the family and my last night at home. I went to all the places I can't go to in Kuwait; Portland Pie Pizza Company, The Red Arrow Diner, The Farm (twice), Friendly's, British Beer Company, Denny's, Uno's, Olive Garden (you can get this in Kuwait but I haven't been there yet), and Chelbys. I never thought I would see the day that I would be sick of eating out. I also went bowling with some people from my old team which was a lot of fun. I did way too much shopping, I got 6 new dress shirts, 3 new sweater vests, 4 new bow ties, 2 new pairs of shoes, some DVD's, books for my kids in Kuwait, a Ukulele, and my favorite thing my Christmas gift to my self my brand new Oakley Sunglasses!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!
I thought I was going to turn into a Popsicle it was so cold at home. I mean hello I know it's NH and it's winter time but remember I am used to being bundled up for 50 degree weather and being cold. People think I am nuts when I say I am freezing at 50 degrees but I am like "Hello remember the temperature 2 months ago was averaging 120 degrees... so yeah just a bit of a change." Thank god I had all my winter clothes at home in NH. One of my favorite days being home besides spending time with the family was New Years Eve. My friends and I kept it simple we had delicious crock pot chicken and pesto and then ice cream with homemade chocolate whipped cream while we had a twilight marathon. We only got through the first 3 of them and yes I know what your thinking that I have the movie taste of a 15 year old girl...... and you would be correct!!
Naturally when it was time for me to come back to Kuwait a major snow storm hit the northeast and the night I was flying out was supposed to get 12-18" of snow. My flight was at 6:50pm and surprisingly enough my flight did get out and was only about an hour late due to de-icing. I arrived in London and had a 2 hour layover and then with no problems hopped on a plane to Bahrain. Arrived in Bahrain no problem grabbed a quite bite to eat and then waited for my flight to Kuwait. Boarded my flight an hour late not too bad then arrived in Kuwait at 10:30pm Friday night 1/3. Of course because my flights had been nice and pleasant something had to go wrong it's the law of Ericphysics. So Gulf air lost not only one but my 2 pieces of checked luggage. Thankfully It was only lost for a short time and I got it back Sunday afternoon.
The other great news is that on Monday I finally received my civil ID which is awesome and means I can get things I need in Kuwait and I don't have to bring my passport everywhere I go.
Settling back into life in Kuwait has been very easy and I have many places I want to visit on the current list are; Istanbul Turkey, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Rome, Spain, Paris, London (outside of the airport), Amsterdam (again outside of the airport), Ireland, Prague, Thailand and many more.
Stayed tuned for the next installment of Eric's adventures in Kuwait.
No comments:
Post a Comment